UNODC Releases 2009 World Drug Report: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has just released the 2009 version of its annual drug report. The Report was launched in Washington, D.C., by UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa and the newly appointed Director of the United States Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske. The Report shows a downward trend in major drug markets. Opium cultivation in Afghanistan, where 93 per cent of the world’s opium is produced, decreased by 19 per cent in 2008. Colombia, which produces half of the world’s cocaine, saw a fall of 18 per cent in cultivation and a staggering 28 per cent decline in production compared to 2007. Global coca production, at 845 tons, is at a five-year low, despite some increases in cultivation in Peru and the Bolivia.”